Chapter 16 - THE RETURN TO BLACKTHORN
Three nights later, Blackthorn Manor looked empty.
That was deliberate.
Federal tactical teams hid in the surrounding forest.
Vale Dominion security occupied sealed rooms beneath the estate.
Every camera transmitted to three independent systems.
The sapphire pendant was back around my neck.
This time, I knew exactly what it meant.
At eleven forty-seven, I sat beneath the chandelier.
Same hall.
Same black floor.
Same white leather chair.
But I was not kneeling.
At midnight, the front door opened.
Victor Sloane walked in alone.
He was older than the photographs.
Silver hair.
Calm eyes.
Perfectly tailored dark suit.
He looked almost gentle.
That was the most frightening thing about him.
“You look like your mother,” he said.
My hands tightened.
“Don’t talk about her.”
“She was brilliant.”
“You killed her.”
“I ordered nothing.”
“Then tell that to a jury.”
Victor smiled.
“Your father still thinks courts control men like me.”
“And you think money does.”
“Money controls courts.”
“Sometimes.”
I placed the music box on the table.
Victor’s eyes moved toward it.
For the first time, his calm expression changed.
“You found it.”
“My mother beat you.”
“She delayed me.”
“Twenty-two years sounds like more than a delay.”
He walked closer.
“You froze my reserve.”
“Yes.”
“Restore it.”
“No.”
Victor smiled again.
“You have your father’s stubbornness.”
“I have my mother’s evidence.”
“That too.”
He stopped six feet away.
“Do you know why Nathan hated you?”
I said nothing.
“Because every day he looked at you, he remembered he had been hired.”
I kept my face still.
“He wanted to believe he chose you.”
Victor continued.
“He wanted to believe Ashford Global was his.”
“He wanted to believe Celeste loved him.”
“All lies.”
“You seem proud.”
“I am realistic.”
“No.”
I looked directly into his eyes.
“You’re a coward who spent thirty years making other people commit your crimes.”
That reached him.
Only slightly.
But enough.
“You brought me here to provoke a confession?”
“Yes.”
He laughed.
“You really are Elias’s daughter.”
“No.”
I stood.
“I’m my mother’s.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
Then the lights went out.
A second later, an explosion shook the eastern wing.
The security system failed.
Dad’s voice shouted through my hidden earpiece.
“GET DOWN.”
Victor moved toward me.
But he was not attacking.
He grabbed my arm.
“Your father has a traitor.”
Gunfire sounded outside.
Victor pulled me behind a stone column.
I stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving the ledger.”
Another explosion struck the house.
Victor looked toward the dark corridor.
May you like
Then he said the last thing I expected.
“The men outside aren’t mine.”
